Magi Fanfiction, Fallen
by fantrash567
Summary: Zemira and Malik fall from their world into the Kingdom of Sindria. Tensions run high as their sudden arrival causes suspicion. Desperate to return to their homeworld, the two friends need to navigate new threats, friends, and possible romance. But, with both of them being talented warriors, they just might have some tricks up their sleeves.
1. Chapter 1: Arrival

The sun was slowly falling towards the horizon, filtering through the branches of the trees, covering the forest floor with an orange glow. Walking quickly through the trees was a slim figure. Their figure was adorned in dark clothes, helping them blend into the shadowy trees. They wore a cloak over their armor. They had a wooden staff gripped in their right hand and it's base lightly tapped along the ground as they made there way down the path. Their footfalls were soft, their boots barely making a sound. Their cloak swirled around their feet as the turned a corner on the trail, revealing a sword strapped to their side, along with a few knives. Reaching the end of the trees their feet stopped. Here the sun shone brighter, turning the long grass gold. The sound of the ocean filled the air, crashing against the bottom of the cliff.

The figure reached up and pulled their hood away from their head, a long blonde braid fell over their shoulder. Her face was feminine but fierce, her stormy blue eyes surveyed the sight before her. Looking towards the cliff face she saw a figure silhouetted by the sun. They were a few inches taller than the women, with broad shoulders, standing with an impressive stature. They wore a large coat, with a large collar and a long back reaching slightly past his knees. His feet were covered in black knee-high boots, a man of the sea. Their back was to the women as they stared into the setting sun, they held a sword in front of them with its point resting on the ground. The women walked to approach the man but received no reaction.

She stood to his side, joining him in staring towards the setting sun. Neither moved, instead, they just kept watching the sun sink lower and lower into the sea. Soon streaks of red painted the sky, joined by purples and blues. Neither spoke until the first stars appeared in the sky.

"Tell me, Malik, what have the stars told you?" the women spoke first, her voice low, barely above a whisper. The air was starting to grow cold as the last of the sun sank into the sea.

"The sky has been restless today." The man's voice wasn't exceptionally deep, but it was still powerful. "The dragon has grown restless." Tilting his head back he looked up at the stars, studying the constellation of the great dragon, the wind from the sea blowing his black hair away from his face. "I don't know why, but something has thrown off the balance in the stars. Something is about to happen." Turning his gaze away from the stars he looked at the women next to him. "What brings you here Zemira? Surely you didn't walk all the way here to ask about the stars."

Zemira returned Malik's gaze before speaking. "I wish it was only that." Looking away with a sigh, she paused before speaking again. "News from the western border, the invaders have launched a new attack, the animarum

battalion managed to fend them off, but I do not know how long we have until they return." Zemira reached up and rubbed her face, exhausted.

Malik rested a gloved hand on her shoulder, "When was the last time you slept?"

Zemira shrugged, "Sometime yesterday, I ran here right after the attackers were defeated. There was no time to waste." Her face became drawn, as though admitting she was tired made her feel it even more.

"Zemira, you can't carry the weight of our nation all by yourself. Come rest with my people tonight, regain your strength." Malik then reached out to hug his old friend, drawing her towards him. "You've always been like this for as long as I've known you." Zemira didn't respond, instead, she simply nodded. After letting go he gave a small laugh, ruffling Zemira's hair.

Zemira swatted Malik's hands away from her head, laughing softly. "I would greatly enjoy that."

"Good." Malik grinned, "Because I wasn't planning on letting you say no." Throwing his arm over her shoulder he began guiding her away from the edge of the cliff. As the last of the stars appeared the two began the slow walk down the cliff towards the small sea-side settlement at the edge of the water.

There was no moon, only stars pierced the black sky, yet their steps did not falter, they knew the path well. A soft breeze swept up the path, whispering through the long grass. For a moment it almost seemed as though they could hear a voice, breathy and soft, full of secrets. At the sound of the voice, the two stopped, listening to the air around them.

"Winds in the east, a mist coming in, like something to happen, about to begin…," Malik spoke as the voice faded from the air. Both Zemira and Malik turned, looking around them, trying to find the source, but they saw nothing, only the stars reflecting on the sea, and the blackness of the trees. "Can you feel it?"

Zemira turned towards the sky, "Yes, the stars have shifted." Her voice trailed off. She turned her gaze back towards the lights on the edge of the sea, looking over the buildings and resting on the ship's lanterns, moving up and down with the sea. "What do you think happened?"

Malik face was solemn as he answered, "I don't know, but it feels wrong, unnatural." He moved closer to Zemira's side, "We should keep moving."

Quickly the two continued walking down the forested path, their steps were hurried, and they startled at every sound. The pair made it to the edge of the town, almost touching the warm glow from the lamps when the world fell apart around them. Suddenly the ground beneath their feet vanished, crumbling away into nothing, leaving the two falling into the unknown.

The sound of the wind rushing past her ears was the first sense that returned to Zemira as she slowly returned to the world around her. She could hear a faint sound, blocked by the wind. She was falling, that she knew and as she opened her eyes she was met with the blinding light from the sun. Alarmed her eyes shot open with the realization that the sun had just set not even an hour ago. Why did it feel like midday?

"ZEMIRA!" a shout drew her attention to below her, looking down she saw herself falling towards an island. Focusing she saw Malik below her, his coat flapping around him and his hair blowing in his face. His eyes look slightly relieved upon seeing her eyes open and looking at him.

"MALIK!" Zemira tried to yell back but the wind forced her voice back down her throat. Looking past him, she startled, seeing the ground rushing towards them. Panicking she released her cloak from around her neck, unfurling her wings from her back. Massive brown and bronze feathers stretched out into the air. Reaching almost 40 feet the wings slowed her decent momentarily before a snap echoed through the air. Her right wing fell limp and dragged through the air, causing her to start plummeting to the ground once again.

Looking up at his friend Malik reached above him, his fingers grazing Zemira's hand as she fell towards him. Her eyes were wide as she fell towards the ground. Her face paling as she looked over his shoulder, before closing her eyes. Gritting his teeth Malik did the same, waiting for the inevitable end to their free fall.

Zemira refused to open her eyes, despite the knowledge that she would soon be reaching the ground. In the back of her mind, she let out a humorless laugh, realizing that after fighting her whole life she was too scared to look at her demise head on. However, it never came, before she could hit the ground, her body jolted as she felt arms grab her falling form, gently although awkwardly due to her wings. With her eyes still closed she felt the person who had caught her land on the ground. After a few seconds, once the sensation of falling had faded she opened her eyes, and immediately wished that she had kept them closed.

Zemira froze as soon as she looked at the face of the man holding her. An emotionless face stared down at her. The man had red hair and pink eyes, eyes that seemed to pierce right through her form. An aura of strength radiated off him and Zemira immediately knew that this man was not to be trifled with. Nervous she tried to wiggle her way out of his arms, instead of releasing her, however, his arms tightened around her making her wince as he moved her injured wing. Noticing her change of expression, he loosened his hold but not enough for her to get away.

A groan from behind her caused her attention to shift, 'wait where's Malik?' her mind raced through all the worst possibilities as she twisted her head around, trying to look over her shoulder to identify the source of the sound behind her. She was relieved to see Malik sitting behind her, rubbing the back of his head, and sitting on what looked like another person who had been unfortunate enough to be taken out by her falling friend.

Opening his eyes and looking up he noticed the man holding Zemira, tensing he quickly moved off the person below him, ignoring the pained groan, and carefully walking towards Zemira. "Are you alright?" his question was directed at Zemira, but his eyes were focused on the face of the man holding her.

"Take a guess," her voice cut through the air, short, making her nerves known. As Malik slowly walked towards the pair in front of him, the man he had landed on sat up. His movement drew Zemira's attention. Looking at his clothes she realized just how far from home she truly was. His attire reminded her of the clothing of the desert traders she had seen many years ago. The strangest part of his clothing was a red rope tied around his neck, standing out from his cream-colored robe, and blue sash wrapped around his robe. He had sandy blonde hair, which was currently being messed up as he was rubbing his skull, undoubtedly where he had hit his head when Malik landed on him.

Turning her attention back to Malik she felt the man holding her shift as Malik drew near, he had almost reached them when red strings seemed to whip out from nowhere catching his arms and pulling him back.

Letting out a cry Zemira finally managed to free herself from the man's arms, only to have him grab her wrist preventing her from reaching Malik. "Let me go!" Zemira yelled, her struggling growing more frantic as a knife attached to the end of the string pointed itself at Malik's throat, causing his movements to freeze.

"Who are you?" an angry voice came from behind Malik, swiftly a man walked around the frozen man and turned to face him. He also wore strange clothes, he even had white hair, despite not looking that old. He glared at Malik waiting for an answer.

Malik swallowed, "We just travelers, we aren't a threat I promise. We just got lost." His words came out in a rush, as he spoke quickly to appease the angry man before him. The man said nothing, he simply kept glaring at Malik.

"Enough Ja'far." The man holding Zemira's arm finally spoke. His deep voice caused everybody to freeze. Ja'far turned to look at the man holding Zemira, and it was then that she saw the red strings were coming from his sleeves. "Let him go, if they were threats, they couldn't have made it past the barrier."

At the voice of the man behind him, Ja'far spun around and turned his furious gaze on Zemira. Instantly Zemira froze, her uninjured wing fluffing up defensively, accidentally hitting the man behind her in the face. Not bothered enough to apologize Zemira matched the man's stare, a growl rumbling in her throat. After a few tense seconds, the red strings around Malik's arms were released and the dagger was no longer pointed at his throat.

Malik rubbed his throat as he moved closer to Zemira, who had finally managed to shake off the red-haired man's hand off her wrist. Standing next to each other the two friends stared down the three men before them. The blonde boy was still rubbing the back of his skull, looking between both pairs, looking uncomfortable with all the tension.

The staring contest went on for a few minutes before Ja'far finally spoke again, "I'm only going to ask you one more time, who are you?" his voice had calmed considerably but his distrust was evident.

Malik spoke first, "We're just travelers, we were walking along out countries borders when we were suddenly falling from the sky. We have no idea why we are here, much less how we even got here." Malik waited for a response before growing tired of the distrustful looks being thrown their way, "Look we don't even know where here is!" Malik's patience was growing thin, he was tired, and he had just fallen into a strange, possibly hostile country, not an ideal situation.

He could hear Zemira cursing next to him as she tried to straighten her broken wing. He could tell just how irritated she was, her mother tongue slipping through her grumblings. As she straightened her injured wing, she sent the men standing across from her a harsh glare. Her stormy blue eyes focused on Ja'far waiting for his response.

Ja'far, to his credit, managed to ignore the glare being pointed his way, "I'll choose to believe you for now, but you'll need to come with us so we can properly document your traveling to Sindria." Turning away he started to walk into the trees, not bother to wait for the two outsiders to follow. The two friends gave each other a glance, before moving to collect their fallen items. Malik gave his sword a critical look while Zemira inspected her staff for any damages, running her hand over the smooth material. Having collected their fallen items, the two turned to follow the white-haired man in front of them. The blonde boy and the red-haired man brought up the rear.

As they walked down the path Zemira looked at all the trees around them. This forest was very different from the one she was used to. Instead of pines and conifers, this forest was more tropical with palm trees standing tall in the sky. The air here was heavier as well, warmer, more humid. Her observing was cut short when her injured wing got dragged across a rock in the path, rolling her right shoulder forward she winced but kept walking. Malik gave her a questioning look, but she just shook her head and kept walking.

"Masrur," Ja'far spoke from further up the path, stopping as he looked around the bend.

Zemira and Malik stopped a few feet back from the albino, waiting. Their eyes followed the red-haired man as he walked towards Ja'far. The two seemed to be having a serious conversation, although it looked like Ja'far was doing most of the talking. After a few minutes, the two turned to face the three watching them. Zemira raised an eyebrow waiting for an explanation.

"I'm afraid that we're going to have to delay taking you to the city momentarily. We have something to deal with first." Ja'far and Masrur walked back towards them.

"Care to explain?" Zemira head tilted slightly as she regarded the men in front of her.

"We came here to help take care of a group of bandits that have taken up residence in the forest. Despite your disruption, we do need to stop them before we return." Ja'far explained, "Due to your condition I doubt you'll be much help," Zemira gave Ja'far an affronted look, "we don't want you to get in the middle of the fight."

"So, what will I be doing?" Zemira asked, leaning on her staff and staring intently at Ja'far.

Instead of answering her Ja'far turned and walked around the bend. Grumbling Zemira followed and saw what looked like a small cluster of farms. Standing by the path was a group of 20 or so people. Upon noticing the group walking out of the woods they began to wave.

One man stepped forward and bowed to them, saying thank you many times before standing again. Ja'far responded with a smile, telling him that he shouldn't worry, that they would solve their problem quickly. During this interaction, Zemira drew a decent amount of attention with her wings, and Malik's attire stood out like a sore thumb. Not knowing what they were supposed to be doing the two shifted on their feet, uncomfortable with the attention.

"Excuse me," a tiny voice drew both their gazes downwards. There stood a little girl, no older than 6. Her hands were clasped behind her back and she was kicking at the dirt with her little foot as she mumbled something.

Unable to understand the child Zemira knelt to her level, "What was that?" she kept her voice gentle, giving the little girl a small smile.

The little girl looked at her with big eyes and in the tiniest voice imaginable managed to squeak out, "Can I touch your wings please?" quickly hiding her face in her hands after asking the question.

Zemira chuckled, curling her uninjured wing around her side, brushing the feather against the child's cheek. The girl looked up and an awestruck smile spread across her face as her hand came to slowly rest on the soft feathers. An innocent giggle, that can only come from a child, bubbled up from her throat as she stroked Zemira's feathers. Smiling Zemira gathered the child into her arms, standing up to return her attention to the conversation in front of her, yet she kept her wing curled around her and the little girl.

The conversation appeared to be coming to a close, having missed the majority of the conversation Zemira turned to ask Malik what was happening. Instead, however she saw him making funny faces at the little girl in her arms, making her giggle.

"I'm guessing you weren't paying attention either." Zemira raised an eyebrow at Malik.

He shrugged his shoulders, "I figured they'd tell us if they wanted us to do anything." His attention remained on the little girl as she reached a tiny hand up to his face, tugging on a strand of his soot-colored hair that had fallen out of his ponytail. Wincing Malik grabbed the little girl's hand, holding it to keep her from ripping his hair out.

The sound of someone clearing their throat Zemira and Malik looked up. Ja'far was looking at her, frowning, not that she had seen him smile, "You'll be staying with the children." He spoke shortly, clearing not in the mood to argue.

Zemira opened her mouth, but before she could speak Malik placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head. Growling Zemira relented.

"Alibaba!" Ja'far turned towards the blond boy, "Lead her to join the children then come back and join us."

Nodding Alibaba gestured for Zemira to follow, with a nod to Malik she walked down the path behind him. Alibaba didn't speak at first, he seemed nervous about something. After a few seconds of what seemed to be an internal battle, he looked over at Zemira, "Um, miss…. I just realized, we never asked yours or your companions names." His face flushed with embarrassment.

Zemira let out a small laugh, "I don't think Ja'far cares to know our names, my name's Zemira, my companion's name is Malik."

Alibaba nodded, "I've never heard a name like yours, you must be live far from here. Do they have any special meanings?"

Zemira thought for a while, "My name means a song. My mother chose it because she thought I carried the song of life in me. She was close but I carry a different song. I believe Malik means wave."

Do all of your people's names have meanings?" Alibaba looked surprisingly interested in what Zemira was saying.

Zemira thought for a moment, "For my people, most parents choose their child's name off of it's meaning, I don't know about the customs of Malik's people."

"Are you and Malik not from the same country?" Alibaba now looked confused.

"No, we are from the same country, but my country has many different cultures and people. We all share the same land, but we all keep our own cultures and customs." Zemira explained, "In some ways our customs are similar, we all share the same gods, but beyond that each group has their own individual beliefs."

Alibaba looked like he had another question, but he was unable to ask as they arrived at the home were the farmers were hiding the children. "Wait here, after this is over one of us will come and get you." He looked at Zemira waiting for her response. She simply nodded, still miffed she was being sent to hide with the children.

She watched Alibaba walk back towards the others before carrying the little girl into the small building. Inside the building there were close to 20 people all clustered together, women and children alike. They looked scared, nervous. Setting the child down Zemira watched as she ran over to a woman who she assumed was her mother. Her eyes scanned the room one more time before she went to shut the door, standing in front of it waiting.

A loud crash caused some children to start crying, their cries muffled by their mothers as they tried to keep them quiet. Zemira glanced briefly behind her before facing the door once again. She gripped her white staff in her hand, listening to ever increasing sounds outside the door. The room behind her had fallen silent behind her, tension filling the air. Then the door open, and chaos broke loose.

Standing back to back with Alibaba in front of the cluster of farms Malik faced the onslaught of bandits, having been told to put his sword to use. The battle took longer than Malik expected, since he had been ordered to only subdue not kill. He was also mildly distracted by Alibaba's flaming sword, which he called Amon. His focus was broken by a loud scream from the house with the women and children.

Alibaba also heard the scream, stopping his fighting as well, "No!" he cried out, "We have to get over there to help!"

However, before Alibaba could take a single step towards the scream Malik stopped him, "Don't worry about it, they'll be fine. Zemira will protect them." He spoke as he slashed another bandit that was charging at the pair.

"But" Alibaba started to protest.

"Trust me on this kid, these bandits will be the ones screaming in a few minutes," he blocked a strike that was aimed at Alibaba, "Stay focused kid, we've got our own problems to deal with."

Recovering from almost being hit Alibaba moved to stand back to back with Malik again, "But she's injured," his voice faltered, his worry evident.

Frustrated Malik punched a man in the face, knocking him out, "Leave it. It takes more than a broken wing to take out Zemira. She'll be fine. The only thing you should be worried about is her killing them."

Ears filled with the sounds of screams, Zemira stood, growling, facing the door as it burst open, causing the women and children to scream and begin crying. Squinting into the light Zemira saw the shapes of five separate men. Lunging forward Zemira released a snarl, her form twisting, morphing into a large stripped feline, orange body covered in thick black strips, lashing out with her front paw, pushing the men back.

One of the men let out a yell of surprise, leaping out of the way of her claws. Pushing them out of the small building, Zemira rose to her full height, blocking the entrance with her body. Each of the men were armed with long swords, some with multiple knives. Narrowing her eyes Zemira slowly looked each man in the eyes, lowering her head and squaring her shoulders.

Watching as the men moved to surround her, she refused to shift her position, knowing they wanted to get to the women and children. She had to keep herself in-between them. Moving slowly, she emerged from the building, her back paws in the threshold of the door.

The men began to taunt her, trying to draw her the rest of the way out of the building. They knew she was the only defense for all those cowering in fear. One man tried throwing stones at her side, the only response he received was a snarl. Zemira refused to move, she was carefully analyzing the situation around her, she knew that she would be unable to fight all five men, while remaining in the doorway. Alright then, plan B.

Rearing back onto her back legs, Zemira opened her mouth, bellowing at the men in front of her, paws slamming into the dusty ground. As her feet slammed into the ground, flames swirled around her ankles. It crackled across her fur, swirling around her legs, around her sides. It rose above her, on each side, almost looking like fiery wings. The tip of her tail crackled, embers falling from the flames.

Eyes burning Zemira roared again, her massive form filling the entire doorway. Slowly, deliberately, she walked forward. As she moved away from the doorway, a wall of flames rose up from the ground, blocking the men from reaching the inside of the building. Facing the men, she lowered her head, and lunged.

"RAH!" Malik yelled as he knocked the last man away, looking around as he landed on the ground. All the bandits were down on the ground, most were unconscious. Ja'far and Masrur were working on tying the bandits up, talking with the villagers. He then turned to Alibaba, "I'm going to go check on Zemira, can you help them finish up here?"

Alibaba looked surprised and slightly alarmed, "Wait! I'll come with you; it looks like they have everything under control here." He fell in step beside Malik, keeping pace with his hurried steps.

Malik shrugged, "Suit yourself." The pair took rushed steps towards the building in the middle of the village. The sight they were greeted with was about what Malik expected to see, and the exact opposite of what Alibaba expected to see.

Lying on the ground in front of them was a massive feline. Its fur was dark orange, covered in thick black stripes, the black almost completely covering the animals back, with flecks of white. Its fur seemed longer than a regular tiger's would be, as well as its tail. The most surprising part of the scene before them however was all the children crawling over the wolf, playing with her fur, sitting on her back. At the sound of footsteps, the animal lifted its head, blue eyes staring at them steadily.

"Took you long enough. I was starting to think that I'd have to come and help you out." Zemira's voice came from the mouth of the tiger. Alibaba's mouth dropped open in shock, watching with wide eyes and Zemira stood, gently nudging the children off her back. "Close your mouth Alibaba, you'll catch flies." Zemira let out a huffing laugh as she walked towards them.

As Zemira walked towards them Alibaba noticed that she wasn't a normal tiger. She looked like a tiger but, different. She was much larger, that was obvious, but her fur was longer as was her tail. Clearly not a tiger, but he had no idea what she was, was this a dijin equip?

Malik grinned, reaching down to ruffle the fur on the top of her head. "Looks like you had fun," he said directing a pointed look at the five men lying motionless on the ground behind her.

Zemira gave a toothy grin, "You can't expect me to let you have all the fun." She stood in between Malik and Alibaba, leaning on Malik's leg slightly. Despite her light-hearted banter with her friend, it was clear she was exhausted. Her shoulders were slouched, and her voice wavered despite her best efforts to hide it.

Alibaba noticed a cut running down her front leg, it didn't appear to be too deep, but it looked painful all the same. "Zemira, you're hurt." He kneeled and gently inspected her wound, holding a paw the size of his head.

Zemira eyes were closed as she responded, "I believe I underestimated just how tired I really am." She opened one eye to look at Alibaba, "I'm afraid I was moving a bit slower today."

While the three had been talking Ja'far and Masrur had finished tying all the bandits up and had come to check on them. Surprised by the sight before them Ja'far was quick to interject. "What is this?" he didn't sound particularly angry, mainly shocked and a little confused.

Zemira turned her head to look at the two men before standing up. As she rose to her back legs her form seemed to melt, and soon she looked like she had before. Her injured wing still hung limply behind her and she still look exhausted. "The main battle was a distraction; it appears their goal was to take the women and children." Her voice was flat, and she was holding her arm where she had gotten injured.

Ja'far looked the two outsiders over, appearing to think through multiple options in his head before speaking again, "Are you still able to walk? We have about an hour walk before we reach the city."

"I'll be fine." Her tone didn't change yet she made and effort to stand straighter.

Malik gave her a side-eye, but he remained silent. He knew which battled to choose and when it included trying to change Zemira's mind he knew it was better to stay quiet. She was proud but she also knew her limits, if she couldn't make it, she would say so.

Ja'far didn't seem as sure, "Are you sure? It's a long walk."

"I'll be fine," Zemira gave him a level stare, waiting for him to protest again, her uninjured wing fluffing out behind her.

Ja'far looked as though he wanted to protest but thought better of it. Instead he simply turned away and started walking down the path. "If you need us to stop let us know, I don't need you passing out."

Zemira narrowed her eyes, "Of course, I'd hate to inconvenience you." Sarcasm was rich in her words, but she spoke them quiet enough that he didn't hear her grumblings. Unknown to her though Masrur had, but he chose to just follow after Ja'far, staying silent.

As the group walked through groups of farms, Zemira and Malik talked in hushed voices, speaking in different tongues to ensure they wouldn't be overheard. Their words were rapidly exchanged, debating just how they had gotten here and why they had been so unceremoniously dropped from the sky, and most importantly, how they were going to get home.


	2. Chapter 2 - Realizations

Zemira's feet repeatedly hit the path under her, dust rising with each footfall. The sun was slowly lowering in the sky, the heat beating down upon their group. Her brain felt sluggish after not sleeping for over 40 hours and with having to fight two different times during that duration, her body was struggling to keep up. As they walked down the path she began to lean on Malik's shoulder, her injured wing dragged on the ground, collecting dust. Zemira wasn't sure how long they had been walking, but she hoped that they would be arriving soon.

Malik's arms caught Zemira's shoulder as her feet stumbled. She gave him a nod, but she didn't answer his questioning gaze. "Z, are you alright?" he stopped walking momentarily, stopping Zemira as well. He turned her to face him, looking at her pale face. "Tell me the truth, you know you can't lie to me."

Zemira looked at Malik's face for a few seconds before speaking, "I just need to sleep, if I can sleep then I'll be fine." She leaned further into his side, her eyes briefly closing, "I just need to sleep." Opening her eyes again, she turned to walk down the path again. Malik looked concerned but he didn't push her. Once her attention was forward again, she noticed that the three others had stopped to look back at them. Straightening her spine once again she began to walk forward once again. However, when Zemira and Malik reached the others they didn't start walking again.

"You're not alright," Ja'far stated the obvious. His patience was clearly spent, and he clearly wasn't going to let Zemira argue against this fact again.

"I just need to sleep. Once I've slept for a few hours I'll be fine." She glared at Ja'far, not in the mood to argue either. She just wanted to get to wherever the hell they were going so she could stop to sleep. Her patience was at the end of her rope.

"We still have a few miles to go before we reach home and you are in no condition to make that journey." Ja'far ignored Zemira's claim that she just needed sleep. Instead, he turned to look at Masur, giving him a questioning look.

Masrur seemed to understand what Ja'far was asking because he walked towards Zemira, quickly grabbing her. He made sure to hold her in a way that wouldn't hurt her injured wing, but his grip was firm.

"I can walk!" Zemira snapped, not appreciating being man-handled. She tried to jump out of his arms, but his grip tightened the more she moved. "Put me down!"

"No." the pink-haired man spoke, glaring down at Zemira.

Zemira was about to open her mouth to retort but Malik cut her off, "Just let it go Z. We'll get there faster if we don't have to worry about you passing out along the way." He rubbed his face with one of his hands before bending down to pick up her staff and pack. Standing back up he looked at Zemira, "Just allow this to happen just once, please? For my sake if not for yours."

Zemira sighed in defeat, she couldn't deny that Malik had a point, she was getting more exhausted as the day wore on. "Fine, but just this once." She gave Malik a pointed look.

Malik gave a slight grin, "Just this once."

Now that the group had come to an agreement, they resumed walking, it was quiet as nobody felt comfortable enough to talk to each other. Alibaba looked like he wanted to say something but after an internal debate, he chose to stay silent. Unfortunately for Zemira this now meant that she had nothing to focus on to keep her mind awake. Masrur was careful as he walked, cradling her in a way as to not jostle her wing. As they walked Zemira laid her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes.

"We'll be there soon; you should rest until then," Masrur spoke softly as he noticed her eyes closing.

She lifted her head to look at him before nodding and closing her eyes again. All she could think about was how she was so tired, her body felt heavy like it was weighted down, or like she was slowly sinking. Allowing herself to finally relax, she fell into a light sleep, drifting in and out of conscious.

After an unknown amount of time Zemira began to hear a clamor of voices. They crowded into her brain, drawing her away from the abyss of sleep. Still, she did not open her eyes, instead, she listened to try to catch the words from the crowds around them.

"It's Ja'far and Masrur, the king's generals."

"Who is Masrur carrying?"

"Look at her back!"

"Look at her wings!"

The voices and hushed whispers flooded her ears, crowding her brain as she heard them whisper and exclaim at the sight of her. She was glad now that she hadn't opened her eyes, she did not want to see the stares from the people around them. Slowly the voices began to fade, the sounds of the crowds disappearing. The air suddenly felt cool around her the harsh beating of the sun vanishes.

Blearily Zemira lifted her head, opening her eyes. She saw columns and sandy walls, massive towers and an endless number of corridors and rooms. She tried to look at the rooms and hallways around her, but Masur walked quickly towards their destination. Turning her head, she saw Malik following, Ja'far and Alibaba had disappeared. Zemira was surprised that Ja'far had left them, after all, he didn't seem to consider them trustworthy.

Her thoughts were cut short as Masrur arrived at a door, unable to knock he called out to a person on the other side of the door. "Yamraiha."

It only took that one word to cause the door to open. Standing on the other side was a woman wearing a rather large hat, wearing rather revealing, and in Zemira's opinion, questionable clothing. She had blue hair, another abnormal color, causing Zemira to question, once again, just what kind of place she and Malik had landed.

"Masur what's wrong?" the woman whom Zemira assumed to be Yamraiha asked, speaking slightly rushed, as though expecting there to be a great emergency. She stopped short however at the sight of Zemira in Masrur's arms, and then at the sight of Malik standing right behind them. "Who's this?" her voice betraying her surprise.

"We found them by the farms. She got injured by the bandits." Masur spoke, his words were short, only saying what was necessary. Despite Masrur leaving out several key details it appeared to be enough for the woman before them.

"Bring her in here, I'll see what I can do." Yamraiha stepped back from the door, allowing them entry.

Once inside Masrur set Zemira down on a table. Once she had been released, she scooted down the table, putting some distance between her and Masrur. Still slightly miffed about having to be carried the rest of the way she didn't want to be near him. Malik stood by the door, his back against the wall.

"Let's see what we have here." The woman came back from somewhere in the corner of the room, for her credit she didn't seem to be too bothered by her wings, instead focusing on the wound on her upper arm. At the woman's prodding Zemira removed her hand from her wound. It was still bleeding, her hand and arm covered in blood.

The woman frowned, while the wound wasn't life threatening it was deep. Taking a wet cloth, she carefully washed all the blood off her arm. Once all the blood and dirt was gone, she was able to get a closer look at the wound. "This shouldn't be a problem; it won't even leave a scar."

"Welcome back Sinbad." Ja'far greeted his king. The pair turned to walk down one of the many corridors, as Ja'far told him about the events of the day.

"It was good to take Alibaba to help with the bandits." Sinbad commented, "it won't do him any good to just sit around." Sinbad looked over at his advisor, "You don't look like you agree."

"No, I do, but," he paused, "We ran into some rather interesting people along the way. Or more accurately, some rather interesting people fell on us." And with that Ja'far told Sinbad exactly what had happened.

"AB DIS OSSA" Zemira yelped at Yamraiha moved her wing to the side to get a better look at the damage. While her arm had been healed in a few seconds by Yamraiha, her wing gave a greater challenge.

"Sorry!" the women quickly let go of Zemira's wing, not expecting her outburst.

Malik, however, slapped a hand over his mouth, muffling his laugh. Hearing his stifled laugh, Zemira's head whipped up, glaring at her friend. She only received a sheepish shrug in return.

Behind her, the blue-haired woman hummed under her breath while examining the broken wing. "Unfortunately, it looks as though the bone in your wing shattered, if it was a clean break then it'd be easy to fix, but, "she hesitated, "I've never tried to fix a wing before." She frowned. Her hands were gentle as she ran her fingers along the broken bone.

"Will you be able to fix it?" Zemira turned her head to look at Yamraiha. She was surprised how quickly her arm was fixed, there wasn't a single sign of injury.

Yamraiha pursed her lips, thinking before speaking. "Yes, I should be able to, but I'm going to have to very closely monitor it's healing." Carefully she stretched out Zemira's wing. "It also feels like some of the muscles have torn as well."

Zemira slumped forward again, "I feel like there is another but coming." Her wing felt like it was burning, and she was hoping it would be fixed as quickly as her arm had been.

"I can fix it, but you won't be able to fly for a while, I want to make sure it's healed correctly before you try to use it." With those words, she began to work on healing the shattered wing.

Closing her eyes Zemira leaned forward, focusing on the feeling of her bone piecing back together, enjoy the relief as the pain faded. She heard a knock at the door, before it was opened, opening her eyes she lifted her head, looking at the people entering the room.

She saw Ja'far standing off to the side, but the man in front of her was one that she had never seen before. His clothes revealed that he held a high status, but the thing that stood out the most was his long purple hair running down his back. At the sight of the hair Zemira inwardly groaned.

"King Sinbad, when did you get back?" Yamraiha asked the man as she finished mending Zemira's wing. Once she was done, she walked around the table to stand next to Zemira.

"Not that long ago, Ja'far told me what happened." He walked towards them as he spoke, his attention focused on Zemira, he's lingering on her wings. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, her wing had shattered but she should be fine within a few days."

Sinbad stopped in front of Zemira, holding his hand out for her to shake, Zemira took his hand, expecting him to shake it but was surprised when instead he kissed the back of her hand. Across the room, Malik raised his eyebrows at Zemira. "My name is Sinbad; I hope you weren't too injured while helping Ja'far deal with the bandits." He smiled at her, his eyes closing briefly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Zemira bowed her head briefly, pulling her hand back towards her, "and thank you for your hospitality." She hoped to keep the conversation short, just wanting to go curl up and sleep. "My name is Zemira and," she nodded her head towards Malik, "my companion's name is Malik."

Sinbad nodded, he looked like he wanted to say something else, but he was stopped by Yamraiha. "I'm sure you have questions Sinbad, but you can save them for later, she needs to sleep."

Zemira thanked Yamraiha in her head, grateful she was finally going to get some sleep. Lifting her wings, she slid off the edge of the table waiting for someone to tell her where she was headed. Malik moved to stand next to her, letting her lean into him.

Sinbad nodded at Yamraiha, "Very well, I'll have someone show each of you to a room," he turned to the two friends and nodded at them, "Once you're feeling better, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you a few questions." With those final words, he turned and left with Ja'far.

"Alright then," Yamraiha turned to the two friends, "Let's find you two places to sleep."

"And here you are," one of the maids gestured to a door, "this will be your room, and your friend will be in the room next door." The maid opened the door, revealing a large room. Zemira followed the woman into the room, the windows were covered keeping the room in darkness. Looking around Zemira saw just how large the room was, the most important part to her, however, was the large bed in the corner.

"Thank you," Zemira turned and bowed her head at the woman next to her.

The woman looked surprised at Zemira's actions, but she then smiled, "Of course, is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No thank you, right now I just want to sleep for a while."

The maid gave Zemira a motherly smile, "Of course dear, you get some rest."

Nodding her head Zemira closed the door before walking towards the bed. Kicking off her shoes she crawled onto the bed, not bothering to use the blankets she covered herself with her wings, curling up and falling asleep.

"Zemira, Zemira where have you gone?"

"Kalaraja, I'm here!" Zemira yelled into the darkness, "Please Kalaraja, can you hear me?"

She felt movement in the darkness, heard a distant roar, "Where are you my child?" the powerful voice rumbled through the darkness.

Zemira felt tears run down her face, "I'm here, please, I'm here!" Soon her voice began to crack, her throat feeling raw. Suddenly her dream shifted, and she could hear a large clamor of voices, all of them yelling.

"Messorem, why have you abandoned us?"

"Messorem, where have you gone? We need you to lead us!"

"Please come back!"

"MESSOREM!"

Zemira shot up in her bed, woken by her own scream. Her dream had caused her to become disoriented, and she had partially shifted, her scream turning into a roar towards the end. Her hands had half-way shifted into paws, claws gripping the bed beneath her. Her wings had flared out behind her, curling around her form. Slowly her breathing returned to normal, but she could still hear the screams from her dream. Her body was shaking, her mind racing as she tried to call out to Kalaraja.

Her attempt to contact him, however, was interrupted, however, when the door burst open. Malik was the first one to reach the side of the bed. He gripped her shoulders, looking into her eyes, "Z, hey you're alright." His voice was soft.

Light flooded the room as someone pulled the curtains open, letting the sunlight flood into the room. It was only then that Zemira realized that Malik was not the only one in the room. There was a rather large group of people standing just inside the door, excluding Alibaba who was standing by the window.

The group of people included, Yamraiha, Ja'far, Masrur, a small blue haired child she had never seen before, and surprisingly Sinbad was there as well. All their expressions were a mixture of concern and confusion.

Yamraiha spoke first, "Zemira, are you alright?" she carefully walked towards the bed, her gaze lingering on her half-shifted hands.

Zemira nodded, forcing her hands to relax, she watched her hands return to normal. "I'm fine," her voice was hoarse, clearing her throat she continued, "It was just a bad dream." She looked at the others in the room, "Sorry to bother you."

"That must have been quite the nightmare," Sinbad was now walking towards the bed, "That was quite the scream. I hope you are feeling better now that you've rested though." His warm nature gave him an aura of warmth and caused the tension in the room to relax.

"I am, thank you," Zemira responded to his question, carefully observing him. He confused her, he seemed very different from other kings she had met in her time. Not in a bad way but he just acted so, casual, and she was surprised at how readily he allowed Malik and her to stay in the castle, after all, he knew absolutely nothing about either of them. The only logical conclusion that she could figure out was that he allowed them to stay to satisfy his own curiosity, to discover where they had come from.

Sinbad ignored her stare, instead, he smiled down at her, "Come, I'm sure you're hungry. We can talk over some food." He walked back to the door, "I'll allow you to freshen up beforehand if you wish." Slowly everyone else left the room, "I'll send someone for the two of you soon."

Once the door had shut and they were alone in the room Malik turned to Zemira, "What happened?"

Zemira sighed, "I could hear Kalaraja calling for me, I tried to answer but he couldn't hear me, and then," she paused, "I could hear them, crying out, asking where I had gone, asking why I had left, begging me to come back. But, no matter how loud I yelled or how far I ran I couldn't make it back, nobody could hear me." She stared into Malik's grey eyes, "Just how far away from home are we?"

"I don't know Z, I tried to commune with Kalachakra while you slept, and I couldn't feel her presence. It's as though we've lost all connections to our world." He reached out a hand and gripped Zemira's tightly, "However, since you heard Kalaraja last night that means the connection is still there, we just have to find a way to get back. We will make it back to our people Z, it just might take some time."

"And you know all about things taking time, don't you?"

Malik stood, ruffling her hair, "nice to see you're feeling better." A knock sounded at the door, "Looks like your maid is here to help clean you up, I'll see you in a bit." Walking out the door he smiled at the maid, closing the door behind him.

The maid how had come into the room was the same one from last night, "Hello, I hope you're feeling better today." She smiled as she spoke, her motherly aura the same as the night before.

"Much better thank you, and I realized," Zemira stood from the bed, "I never got your name last night, forgive me."

"Don't worry about it dear," the women moved around the room, opening curtains as she went, "my name is Miao, yours is Zemira correct?" her voice became muffled as she walked into another room, the sound of water reaching Zemira's ears.

Zemira walked towards the room Miao had disappeared into, "Yes, my name is Zemira." Walking into the room she saw it was a sort of bathhouse, it was thankfully empty, and Miao was moving around, prepping a bath for Zemira.

Once the pools were steaming, she turned to Zemira, "Now, let's get you cleaned up."

Thirty minutes later Zemira was looking at the clothes laid out for her, "Miao, would it be possible for me to wear something that has pants?" she looked over at the women who were still bustling around the room.

Miao paused, "I suppose I could find you something with pants, you'll have to wait for a little longer though." She looked over at Zemira, waiting for her response.

"That would be perfectly fine," Zemira nodded her head, "Thank you."

Within the next five minutes Miao had returned, thankfully carrying pants. Soon Zemira was dressed in what looked like some traditional robes. The sleeves were cut off at the shoulders, and it's back had been modified to accommodate her wings, Miao has simply cut the back open, modifying the top so it was tied around the back of her neck. The pants she had been given were lose fitting, but fortunately, they weren't as baggy like some of the clothes she had seen others wearing.

Soon after she had finished getting changed there was a knock at the door, Zemira was busy gathering her staff, along with her pack, as she was strapping her pack to her side, she heard Miao speak to the person at the door.

"Masrur, are you here to guide Zemira?"

Zemira heard no response but she still walked towards the door. There she saw the red-haired man from the day before, looking just as indifferent about the situation. She raised an eyebrow at him, but he didn't say anything, simply turning to walk down the hall. Zemira quickly thanked Miao before following him down the hall.

Zemira soon caught up to the tall man, falling in step beside him. She made sure to keep her wings folded in tight, to prevent hitting the man next to her. As she walked, she glanced at the man beside her, standing at 5'9" she wasn't used to feeling short, this man, however, dwarfed her. Focusing her gaze in front of her, she kept silent.

As they walked, she was able to get a good look at the palace, the walls were all the same sandy color, and through the columns, she could see gardens, and briefly, she caught a glance of the city below.

"Are you feeling better?" Masrur spoke, startling Zemira, causing her wings to fluff out.

"Much, thank you," she nodded, still looking forward. The conversation ended there, but she wasn't surprised, he seemed to be someone who only spoke when it was truly necessary. Soon the two reached a large door, Masrur pushed it open and Zemira followed him inside. Looking around the room Zemira saw Sinbad speaking with Alibaba and a small blue-haired child. Seeing Malik, she quickly moved to sit next to him.

"Have I missed anything?" Zemira asked Malik, looking around the room.

"Not sure, I only got here about 5 minutes ago," he then bumped his shoulder against hers, "Looks like they fixed you up all fancy. Hoping to impress somebody?" Malik's impish face and wiggling eyebrows were stopped as Zemira's elbow connected with his ribs, causing him to wheeze. Malik's clothes didn't look any different from his usual style, his heavy jacket was gone, his white shirt hanging loosely on his shoulders, making his tan skin look even darker than usual.

"I swear you are worse than Kyan, and that is not to be taken as a compliment," Zemira hissed at Malik, keeping her voice quiet, shifting to face him instead of just sitting next to him, she grabbed his cheek, tugging on his face.

On the other side of the room, Sinbad dismissed Alibaba and Aladdin, promising to finish their conversation later. After the pair had walked away, he turned his attention to the two outsiders. They appeared to be caught up in their own conversation. As he watched them, he noticed that they were both speaking a language unknown to him, he was unable to catch any words, but he could tell that whatever Malik had said was not appreciated by Zemira. Her wings had fluffed out, and she twisted around to face him, grabbing his check and tugging on it, her foreign words falling rapidly from her mouth.

Her wings were a curiosity, he had never seen anything like them. They didn't appear to be a jinn equip, even when her energy was completely spent, they had remained. Her movements were fluid, her wings moved as extensions of the body, each movement looked completely natural. However, what drew his attention was her back, primarily the spot in-between her wings. Instead of skin, feathers grew between her shoulder blades, running down her back they were the same color as her wings.

The pair confused Sinbad, and he was hoping to get some answers.

The clearing of someone's throat caught both Zemira and Malik's attention, pausing the conversation they turned to see that Alibaba and Aladdin had left the room, leaving them alone with Sinbad and Ja'far.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Sinbad spoke, his voice carefree. "I had some things to talk to Alibaba and Aladdin about."

As he spoke the pair moved to sit at the table next to him. They were cautious, despite having already discussed what they should talk about and what should remain unsaid.

"I'm glad to see the two of you are feeling more rested, please eat." Sinbad gestured to the food-covered table. He waited until they had grabbed some food before speaking again, "I hope you can pardon my curiosity, but where exactly are you from?"

Since Malik was busy chewing Zemira answered the king's question, "We are from Aeternum." Looking at Sinbad and Ja'far's faces she smiled, "I'm assuming you've never heard of it. I would be surprised if you had, neither of us has heard of Sindria."

Sinbad gripped his chin, resting his elbow on the table and slightly leaning forward. "No, I've never heard of such a place, I've also never heard a language like the one you were speaking."

Zemira looked at Malik, he shrugged. "Our country has never opened its borders for trade," she spoke slowly, "I would be surprised if you had heard of our country."

Sinbad's brow furrowed, "Interesting, but I've never even heard of a closed country, all the countries I know of are actively engaged in many different trading systems."

Malik answer this time, having finally stopped eating long enough to talk. "We've never had a reason to engage in trade, our country doesn't have any neighbors close enough to even consider the possibility." He reached for a roll, "all of our countries trade happens within our own borders."

"Your country must be awfully remote then," Sinbad's face was passive, but it was clear he was carefully thinking about everything he was hearing. Malik and Zemira shrugged, seeming to agree with him. "Zemira, if you don't mind my asking, but are your wings from a jinn?"

Zemira put down the fruit she was eating, "From a what?"

"A jinn?"

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

Sinbad paused for a moment, "A jinn is a being of great power if one conquers a dungeon than they can be chosen by the jinn to wield that power." He looked at the blank faces in front of him, "You've never heard of the jinns?" Both shook their heads. "Then how do you have wings?"

One of her wings curled around her side, "I was born with them." She looked at Sinbad, "All Animarum are born with wings."

Now it was Sinbad's turn to look confused, "Animarum?"

"That's what I am, an Animarum, our species is also knowns as the souls, since legend states that our soul is made of three parts. She gestured to Malik, "Malik is a Derya." She paused looking at Sinbad again, seeing that he looked just as confused she continued, "The Derya are known as the tide-makers, legend states that his people came from the sea."

"And you're both from the same country?"

Malik nodded, "There are four groups or species in our country," He pointed to himself, "The Derya," he then pointed to Zemira, "The Animarum, the Centarians, and the Minlari." He finished, counting all four off on his fingers. "We are all citizens of Aeternum."

"Incredible," Sinbad's reaction surprised the pair, "All of you exist together in peace?" he sounded both excited and awed, "How were you able to create a country such as that?"

Zemira tilted her head to the side, thinking, "It was born that way, our Gods created all four races as equals, making sure that power is evenly balanced throughout each race. There is no reason for quarrels between species." Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Sinbad, "Is it not the same here?" her voiced dropped, her tone changing.

Surprisingly Sinbad seemed to enjoy her reaction, "It is in my country, however not all countries are run like Sindria." He picked up a goblet, "Fanalise, like Masrur for example, are often captured and enslaved as gladiators." His tone showed his displeasure. It was clear that he did not approve of this trade. His demeanor changed in the next second as he placed his goblet down and smiled again. "Your country sounds fascinating; I hope we will both be able to learn from each other."

Malik nodded his head, "I hope to learn as much as I can about your country, however, I'm afraid we need to hasten to find a way home." Zemira nodded her head as he spoke.

"I think I know who will be able to help with finding your way back home." Sinbad stood as he spoke, once the pair had stood as well, he turned to walk out of the room, "If you'll follow me, we'll see what we can do."


	3. Chapter 3: Exploration

Zemira and Malik followed Sinbad down more corridors before they reached a familiar door, Yamraiha's door to be exact. Sinbad knocked on the door, silence was the response. He knocked again, still no response.

"She must be training with Aladdin today," he turned and started walking through the corridor again. "She should be in the courtyard." He didn't bother to look to see if Zemira or Malik were following, leaving them to hurry to catch up. Malik's boots clicked on the stone floor, where Zemira's bare feet made close to no sound.

As they walked out into the courtyard the sun was momentarily blinding before their eyes were able to adjust. Looking around they could see Yamraiha and a small child, whom they assumed was Aladdin. The group stood off to the side, they watched as the pair talked when a large amount of energy suddenly flared up from around Aladdin.

Malik elbowed Zemira, raising an eyebrow and nodding towards the boy once she had turned to look at him. Zemira shook her head slowly, turning back to the boy. "Later Malik, we need to learn what this world is like," her voice was quiet, only Malik was able to hear her. He gave a slight nod, refocusing on the pair in front of them.

"Zemira, Malik!" Yamraiha turned towards them and waved, her greeting also caused the little boy to look towards them.

Sinbad lead Zemira and Malik over, "Yamraiha how goes training?" he stood slightly in front of the outsiders, arms crossed with an easy smile on his face.

Yamraiha shrugged, "He has a lot to improve upon but we're making progress." She turned towards the pair standing behind Sinbad. "It's nice to see the two of you, I hope you're feeling well." She gestured to the small boy standing next to her, the boy's blue hair was tied back in a long braid and covered in a white turban. He smiled up at the pair before waving. "This is Aladdin, he's my student."

Both Zemira and Malik nodded their heads at the boy, but it was Malik that spoke, "O se fetu e susulu i le itula o le feiloai."

Neither Zemira or Malik realized they had switched languages, until Aladdin, Yamraiha, and Sinbad looked at the two of them confused. "Sorry, we couldn't understand you," Yamraiha spoke up, sounding confused.

"Le a?" Malik looked confused, not realizing that he was no longer speaking an understandable language.

"Lingua iniuriam Malik," Zemira spoke from beside him. Her lips turned up into a small smile.

Malik gave an awkward cough, "You'll have to forgive me, it's the customary greeting of my people." He rubbed the back of his neck, slightly looking down. "It's hard to not say it in my native language."

"That's okay mister," Aladdin smiled up at Malik, "What does it mean?" his eyes were curious but happy.

"Let me try to translate it in a way that'll make sense," Malik thought for a few seconds, trying to translate the phrase in his head. "It means, a star shines at an hour of meeting. My people come from the coast and are famed sailors, we've always relied on the stars."

"Wow, that's really cool!" Aladdin waved his arms above his head, bouncing around excitedly. He then turned towards Zemira, "Do you live on the coast too?" his eyes wide, excitement contagious.

Zemira shook her head and laughed softly, "No, I do not, I live in the mountains of our country, many miles from where Malik lives."

Aladdin looked like he was about to ask another question before Sinbad interjected, "I'm afraid that your questions are going to have to wait, we are all here for Yamraiha's help."

Hearing this Yamraiha stepped forward, "What can I help with?"

"We're hoping your clairvoyance magic will help us find Malik and Zemira's homeland." Sinbad gestured to the pair standing beside Aladdin.

"I can't guarantee anything, but I can try." She then turned to Zemira and Malik, "For this to work I'm going to need something of yours that is directly tied to your home, preferably something created there or something that has been there for a long time." She then led them to the side of the fountain, where they were able to sit down on a few benches. "Do you mind if Aladdin stays? I'm hoping to teach him more about different types of magic."

Zemira shrugged, "I don't mind as long as Malik doesn't."

"I don't see a problem with it."

Yamraiha clapped her hands, "Alright then, let's get started. Do either of you have an object I can use?" Her gaze switched between the two as they shared a short-muttered conversation.

Reaching into her bag Zemira pulled out a white object, setting it down on the side of the fountain. "This should work." Staring up at the group was the bleached skull of what looked like a tiger. Full of teeth and grinning. Faded paint showed the remains of a painted design painted across the bone. "It's a ceremonial mask, passed down through my family for many generations, will it work?"

Yamraiha hesitated, caught off guard with Zemira's choice item, "It should work, I'm also going to need you to think of the first memory you have, that you remember completely. It has to be clear, otherwise, it won't be strong enough." She held out her hand, waiting for Zemira to grab it, her other hand on the skull. "Before I start, I want to make sure you're okay with this, everyone here will be seeing this memory," she paused waiting for Zemira.

Malik placed a hand on Zemira shoulder, speaking in his native tongue, "Do you want me to share a memory instead?" his voice was low, almost whispering, despite the others being unable to understand him.

"No, I won't make you relive that day," Zemira answered before switching languages and facing the others. A shaking breath preceded Zemira's words, "Okay," she took a few more deep breaths, forcing her mind to calm, to focus on one moment in time. "I'm ready."

The grip on Zemira's hand tightened, and the small group fell into memory. The sun was bright, but the air was still cool. The group looked around, seeing what appeared to be a marketplace. The sun appeared on the ground in spots and the group realized that part of the city was buried underground. Holes were carved out of the roof, allowing the sun to reach beneath the earth. The group took their time looking around, looking at all the stalls and observing the shops carved out of the rock walls.

"Where are we?" Yamraiha asked, her voice filled with curiosity and wonder.

"It's the region where I grew up, the City of Bardr." Zemira's voice was quiet, filled with nostalgia. Turning around to see just what her memory was showing them.

"The City of Bardr?" Sinbad turned to Zemira, "that's an interesting name," Sinbad's voice revealed just how curious he was about Zemira's world.

"All the cities in our country have a patron God, the capital city I grew up near was the Bardr, the cities patron, the God of War and Peace. My family was here to visit the market."

 _Before any more questions could be asked, a childlike laugh could be heard. The group turned and saw what looked to be a small striped feline racing through the streets of the market. The group watched as it raced around a corner, followed closely by another striped feline cub. The pair raced each other around the market, ducking in between vendors. As they raced up towards the upper part of the city, the world around them shifted, moving with the memory._

 _The two cubs raced through the legs of people. Even ducking under the legs of a large elk centarian. They were so small, the centarian didn't even seem to notice the children._

"Whoa!" Aladdin's eyes grew as they looked at the centarian. His lower half looked exactly like an elk, his hooves clicking on the ground, his top half seemed perfectly human. His skin was the same dark brown as his fur, and sitting on his head, two large antlers, parting his braided hair, black coils hanging down past his shoulders.

As he walked past Aladdin, Aladdin turned, walking backward, staring at the centarian. "What's that?"

"He's a centarian," Malik answered his question, not bothering to turn around as the memory kept moving forwards, causing the world to keep moving.

 _Suddenly the world stopped moving, as the first cub was scooped up by a white, spotted feline with blue and white wings. The male cub stopped at the animal's paws. "Hi mom!" he spoke in a child's voice, a little boy speaking._

 _The animal put the female cub down. "Kyan, Zemira, I told you to stay with your father." Her voice had the same accent as Zemira, her words sounding thicker than the Sindrians. "You can't just go running through the city."_

 _"Sorry mom," Zemira shuffled her paws, Kyan sat behind her, putting his head down. Then they both gave each other sheepish grins. "We didn't get in anybody's way."_

 _Their mother sighed, "That's not the point," she stood, "Your father and I don't want to lose you. Bardr's city is massive, and you two are still very small." She bent down to look them in the eye. "Come now. It's time for us to go." She straightens up, looking at her children, making sure they wouldn't run off again._

 _Not bothering to run off, the pair of them trotted to their mom. Both stood under her, looking up at their mom waiting for her to move. She shielded them with her wings and began to walk back into the market._

 _The group followed the memory, passing through the crowd like ghosts. Soon they reached the end of the market, passing into a quieter part of the city. After walking for around 15 minutes they saw a figure before them. A tall man with dark brown hair was holding a pack and standing against the wall of a building. Upon getting closer, both Zemira and Kyan raced out from under their mom._

 _"Dad!" Both kids ran towards their dad, shifting into people, wings tucked small against their back. Laughing the man bent down, grabbing a child in each arm, picking them up, reddish wings curling around them._

 _"There you rascals are," his voice still had a laughing tone, despite his scolding. "You were supposed to wait with me," both kids looked down, feeling bad._

 _The group of watchers stood a few feet back, watching the family. They were all fascinated by the world around them, never had they seen anything like this city. So many different types of people were walking around. Even Zemira's parents didn't appear completely human, even beyond their wings. Both her parents looked mostly human, but the group noticed other differences. Mainly the large paws in place of feet._

"Do all of your people have paws instead of feet?" Aladdin asked Zemira, looking up, bright-eyed. He seemed the most excited about seeing the other world. He was almost dancing around Zemira.

"Yes, we all have wings and paws." Zemira seemed distracted, staring at her memory, lost in thought.

"Even you?"

The innocent question made Zemira laugh and drew her out of her thoughts. "Yes, even me."

Sinbad spoke, breaking his silence. "Your feet look human to me," his voice was lighthearted, masking his confusion with a joke.

"Your people were very shocked to see my wings, I didn't want to attract more attention because of in-human feet." She then turned to Yamraiha, "How much longer do you need the memory to last?"

"I'm not sure, I haven't found anything yet so if you could please let it continue,"

Zemira sighed, nodded and fell silent. Her face had grown tense, watching the family leave the city and travel out across the plains. She knew what was coming and she dreaded having to experience it once again.

Sensing Zemira's discomfort, Malik placed his hand on her shoulder, giving her silent support.

The others noticed the tension between the two, even the memory now felt uneasy despite it appearing to be as normal as before. Curious for what was to come the group focused on the small family making their way across the plains.

 _The memory passed in a haze as the family continued to travel, the sunset, and the memory fell into blackness as the family slept. Time skipped for those watching and soon it was the next morning. The morning passed much in the same way as the day before, Zemira and Malik ran around their parents' legs, chasing each other as their parents walked towards the horizon._

 _It was close to mid-day when the peaceful atmosphere fell apart._

" _Zemira, Kyan, stay here," their father spoke, nudging them behind a rock with his nose, "Your mother and I need to make sure the gorge is safe."_

 _The two blinked up at their father, nodding. As their parents walked to the edge of the gorge, the siblings peaked their heads up over the top of the rock. Soon however the pair grew bored with watching their parents, instead of turning to stalk and pounce on each other. Their wrestling caused them to slightly roll away from the rock, but the pair didn't notice until they heard the sound of rapid running headed towards them. Looking up the pair tried to find the sound, but they weren't fast enough._

 _The memory jolted for a second as Zemira was snatched from the ground and was suddenly being carried away from the gorge. The group watching stared in surprise as Zemira's father grabbed Zemira in his mouth, sprinting away from wherever they had gone. Close behind him Zemira's mother had grabbed Kyan and was also sprinting forward._

 _The scene was strange, the group was unable to see anything that would be considered a threat, the plains looked empty. It wasn't until they heard the shrieking that they looked behind them. A dark mass seemed to be crawling over the edge of the gorge, it covered everything in a dark shade, seeming to blot out all life. Once the dark blob got closer it became easier to see the different shapes in the cluster._

 _The Sindrians had no words for words to describe what these creatures were. They had no fur, instead, they were covered in dark scales, with a serpentine appearance. They raced forward on strong legs, and thin horns covered their backs. The most alarming thing, however, was the speed they were moving, slowly gaining on the family despite their best efforts to getaway._

Forced to be spectators, the group could only watch the memory unfold. It was becoming harder to look at the world around them, the memory becoming more confusing, more suffocating.

 _With a jolt the memory changed as both Zemira's father and mother jumped off the edge of the cliff, falling down into the gorge. Snapping open their wings the dove through the canyon, dodging rocky outcroppings and making sharp turns around corners. They stayed low to the ground, glancing back towards the top of the canyon._

 _At this moment it almost seemed as though there was hope for them to get away, to reach safety, yet this hope was dashed before it has any chance to grow. Zemira's father had been in front this whole time, and upon rounding a corner, he came to an abrupt halt before rapidly flapping his wings to fly higher, out of the canyon._

 _The screeching sound once again filled everybody's ears; the creatures having cut them off in the canyon. As her father and mother desperately tried to fly out of reach the creatures tried to climb up the rocks, leaping into the air, trying to knock them down._

 _Soon the family reached the top of the canyon, both landing on the edge, making sure they were still out of reach. Breathing heavily Zemira's father set her on the ground between his massive paws while her mother did the same with Kyan. Both siblings made no sounds, only curling up as small as they could._

 _Looking across the horizon Zemira's father spoke, "Smoke from the west," his voice was heavy, his chest still heaving, "Bardr's city burns." He turned towards his wife, "we cannot find safety there." A small whimper made him look down, both Zemira and Kyan were looking at him with wide eyes._

 _Zemira's mother nuzzled Kyan, "be strong my children, there is hope for as long as we are willing to fight." A screeching was heard from the canyon, slowly getting louder. "I want you to promise me something," she rushed to keep speaking, not allowing her children to speak, "when we tell you, we want you to run as hard as you can, run to Itherther's city in the north, follow the dragons tail, warn them of what's coming. You must be quick."_

 _"I don't want to go," Kyan spoke, his voice shaking as he tried not to cry, Zemira nodded, looking up at her father._

 _"You must." Their mother's voice grew harsh, they were running out of time._

 _Their father crouched down to their level, "please my children, run as hard as you can for us. I promise that we will meet again. We won't be apart for long."_

 _"Promise?" Zemira asked, voice cracking._

 _Her father gently pushed her over to her brother, "I promise." There were now tears running down both their parent's faces; the screeching was almost deafening now. Their time was up._

 _As the first creature began to climb over the edge of the canyon, clawing and scrambling to find purchase on the crumbling ground, each parent grabbed a child and flung them away from the edge. With two small thuds, the kids hit the earth, rolling behind a cluster of rocks. Once the pair had stopped rolling the quickly did the opposite their parents told them to do, and climbed to the top of a rock, peering over the top to see their parents._

 _Perhaps it would have been better to have never looked, it would have been better to have not seen their parents standing alone against the never-ending swarm, to see them struggle, to fight with all their might to hold the hoard back, to see them do anything possible to save their children. But they had looked, and that scene was the clearest in the entire memory._

 _Despite only being two their parents were a powerful force, bending the earth with their will, forcing the ground to crumble under their command. As the ground cracked and began to cave, the two children tore their eyes away and started to run._

 _Their small size helped them, allowing them to crawl under rocks, and hide in small caves. The rocky landscape seemed to alter to aid them as well as hinder their pursuers progress. The day turned into night and as the cubs traveled the memory began to blend together, slowly the land changed, becoming steeper with more trees, far off screeching could no longer be heard in the distance while they tried to sleep at night, but the feeling of dread never faded, nor did the unrelenting sorrow._

 _The memory became clear once again as the cubs reached a large valley, hidden between two large mountain ranges, a river carved the valley in half and it created a picture of peace, but appearances can be deceiving._

 _The cubs raced into the city, all traces of exhaustion seeming to disappear as they raced towards the center of the city. Citizens of the city gasped and yelled after the children as they sprinted across the great bridges built throughout the city. Their destination was easy to see, the statue of the dragon was larger than any of the buildings in the city, including what looked like the palace, and it was to this dragon the children ran._

 _As the came to the statue they stopped and frantically looked around, scanning the crowds of people, soon they found who they were looking for, emerging from the temple under the statue, a black lion walked into the sun._

 _The sun lightened his fur, showing the color to be the border between black and brown, his mane was completely black, but his muzzle was a sandy brown, as was his belly, the lower half of his legs the brown faded to the sandy brown, his toes a creamy white. On his face there were flecks of the sandy brown, framing his face and eyes. His wings rested on his back, golden in the sun, awe-inspiring in their size. Golden feather was mixed into his mane, running down his back to the start of his tail. The end of his long tail was framed with more golden feather, creating a fan._

 _The memory showed how Zemira remembered meeting him, showing his magnificent power, and conveying the feeling of awe she had felt. As he walked towards the children, it almost seemed as though he was walking slower than everyone else, each movement smooth and elegant, his paws making no sound upon the stone ground._

 _Stopping in front of the children he spoke, "What brings two cubs to the temple?" his voice was rich and powerful, yet kind and gentle. His eyes softened as he took in their dirty and thin appearance, "What happened my children?" he crouched down, speaking ever softer, trying to relax the cubs before him. However, he was unprepared for their answer._

 _The twins answered him at the same time, their voices far too serious and grave for one their size._

 _"Bardr burns."_

The memory came to an abrupt end, jolting everybody out of their thoughts. Yamraiha seemed to get the biggest shock from the memory ending, gasping as her vision cleared and once again showed the Sindrian courtyard.

"What happened?" Aladdin was the first to speak, he was confused as to why the memory had ended so abruptly.

"I don't remember much after that," Zemira explained, her accent was much thicker, her words sounding strange, "The remainder of the memory wouldn't be of any use." Turning from Aladdin she looked at Yamraiha, "Were you able to find anything?"

Yamraiha sighed, "unfortunately I was only able to find a small signal, not enough to know where your country lies, only that it exists." She picked up the skull, running her hands over the smooth bone, "That memory felt very old, your country must be a very long ways from here." Slowly she passed the skull back over to Zemira, pretending not to notice the quickness Zemira ripped it from her hands.

As Zemira carefully placed the skull back into her bag Sinbad broke the uncomfortable silence, "In regard to your comment earlier, you won't have to worry about the people of this country judging you on your appearance," he smiled at Zemira and Malik's expressions, "After all, one of the eight generals looks like a dragon."

Zemira bowed her head slightly, "Thank you."

Sinbad stood from the bench, "Don't worry, we will do all that we can to help you get home, but for now, I hope you can enjoy your time here." And with that Sinbad left the garden.

Yamraiha left soon after Sinbad, promising to do all she could to find a way to get them home. Aladdin however stayed behind, wanting to talk to the outsiders.

"What do you two think of Sindria?" his first question caught both of the outsiders off guard, they were expecting questions about the memory, or at the very least about their country.

Malik shrugged, "It seems nice, can't say we've really gotten a chance to look around."

Aladdin seemed to think for a while, "I can show you around if you'd like," his eyes began to shine with excitement, "and I can introduce you to my friend Alibaba."

Grateful for the distraction the pair agreed, standing with the young boy.

"Miss Zemira?" Aladdin turned to look up at Zemira, "if it's true that you usually have paws, aren't you uncomfortable?" he sounded concerned.

"It doesn't quite feel natural I admit, but it's more comfortable that having everybody stare at them." As she spoke, she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her weight staying more on her toes.

"You should do what makes you comfortable, even if people stare at first, they'll get over it pretty quick, after all they've all seen Drakon before." He giggled, holding his arms out as he spun in a circle.

Zemira couldn't help but laugh, "alright, I'll take your word for it," she took a step forward, raising to her toes, orange paws taking place of her feet. Her toes wiggled in the grass, feeling more relaxed than before.

"Great" Aladdin exclaimed, grabbing Zemira and Malik's hands in excitement, pulling both of them forward, "Let's go!"

Laughing both Malik and Zemira followed the young boy, wondering if ending up stuck here wasn't as bad as they had thought.

As the sun began to shift towards the horizon, Zemira and Malik found themselves wandering through the streets of Sindria. The pair was being led by Aladdin and Alibaba, but the two had become so immersed in examining all of the stalls in the market that they had begun to neglect their duty as tour guides. The outsiders didn't mind, there was enough in the market to keep them entertained, and they made sure to keep their guides in sight.

Noticing that Malik had stopped at a booth, Zemira looked over his shoulder, trying to see what had caught his eye. However due to Malik being at least 4 inches taller than her, it was easier said than done. Soon however, she was able to shove her way through the crowd to stand next to Malik.

In Malik's hand was a small charm. It was made of silver and looked to be a type of sea creature, long and serpentine. The silver glinted in the sun as Malik turned it over, running his fingers over the finely carved details.

"It looks like Galia, don't you think?" Malik didn't bother looking at Zemira, instead he continued examining the charm.

"It looks similar I suppose, but it doesn't look as graceful, not to mention it's missing her mane."

Malik nodded, his eyes were now unfocused, seemingly not focused on the charm in his hand anymore, "What are we doing Z? Pretending that everything is alright, we don't even know where we are."

"We'll find our way home," she placed a hand on his shoulder to offer comfort, "ne derelinquas nos Deo nostro."

"Mahadsanid" Malik turned an gave Zemira a thankful nod.

The somber moment was interrupted by the voice carrying over the crowd, "Malik! Zemira! Where are you?" the childish voice of Aladdin could be heard easily over the mummer of the market, causing many people to turn and look.

"Seems like our guides have noticed out absence," Malik gave Zemira a wolfish grin, "Shall we go then?"

Zemira gave a laugh, grabbing Malik's outstretched hand, "Lead on."


	4. Information Chapter

I made a google doc for information about the world Zemira and Malik are from, I own none of the artwork. The next chapter is in progress and should be published soonish.

document/d/1pDy_0GVuuuX-iVLQywc9pcq2aNFL64Ooos2Y0V7OjyU/edit?usp=sharing


End file.
